The court-appointed lawyer for the pit bull that attacked a 5-year-old Effingham County boy last summer is looking for someone to take the dog under criteria outlined by the boy’s family.

Mickey Kicklighter said the family does not want the dog, whose name is “Kno,” adopted. They want him to be kept away from children and, if possible, they would like him to be sent somewhere where he could be studied to learn what triggers dogs to attack humans.

“Those requirements are very reasonable under the circumstances,” he said.

Kicklighter said when he was appointed to represent the dog in October, he received dozens of calls from all over the country from people interested in helping Kno.

“There was a lot of interest at first,” Kicklighter said. “It’s kind of died off.”

A court hearing to determine whether the dog should be euthanized was set for Jan. 10, but it was postponed indefinitely because Kicklighter had other cases to handle in court that day. Chief Superior Court Judge William Woodrum Jr. filed an order that postponed the matter “until further order of the court.”

Kno bit the boy July 24 while he was playing with another child in a neighbor’s house in the Paddleford Subdivision. One of the dog’s owners was able to stop the attack by getting the dog outside.

The boy was left with scars and some facial paralysis. The owners of the dog surrendered him to the county after the attack.

Kicklighter said he believes there are many locations where the dog could be kept and meet the wishes of the family. He wants people who know of places that meet the guidelines to contact him.

Steve Shi, an Athens lawyer who helps abused and neglected animals, had offered to help reimburse the county for the money it has spent to house Kno, but that was before the case dragged on for months.

He said the restrictions imposed by the family “are, in effect, a death sentence to the dog.”

Shi said his understanding is that the dog had a sore spot that the child touched and that the dog didn’t do anything wrong. Shi said the court, not the family of the injured boy, should determine what happens to the dog.

Shi said this week he would only help reimburse the county’s expenses if the dog is adopted.

The dog has lived in a 6-foot by 5-foot pen at the county’s animal shelter for 206 days since the attack. The pen has three concrete walls and a fourth wall made of chain-link fence.

Romie Currier, the county’s director of animal control, said Kno is taken from the pen to an exercise yard twice a day for 20 to 30 minutes. He also is petted by staff members who try to keep all the animals at the shelter from becoming stir-crazy from being caged.

The county charges $10 a day to house dogs that have been accused of biting someone, Currier has said.

She said she would recommend that there be no cats at Kno’s new home. “He doesn’t like cats,” she said.

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